Printing roller vertical position control device



D. W. LEW

Nov. 8, 1966 PRINTING ROLLER VERTICAL POSITION CONTROL DEVICE Filed May 25, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet l XAIIIII BYZ Le ATTORNEY D. W. LEW

Nov. 8, 1966 PRINTING ROLLER VERTICAL POSITION CONTROL DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 25, 1964 N@ www mm mw QQ INVENTQR DCL/l y Lew BY l ATTORNEY United States Patent O 3,283,711 PRINTING ROLLER VERTICAL POSITION CONTROL DEVICE Dong W. Lew, Ossining, N.Y., assignor to Farrington Business Machines Corporation, Springfield, Va., a corporation of Massachusetts Filed May 25, 1964, Ser. No. 369,793 Claims. (Cl. lOl-269) The present invention relates to a printing device and, more particularly, to an improved printing device for recording data on sales slips or the like, wherein impressions are produced by rolling a platen across the surface of such sales slips disposed over a printing plate or similar devices.

It is the general purpose of this invention to provide a printing device that is portable in character, lightweight in construction, possessing a -low silhouette, yet producing a good quality transfer of information. To attain this, the present invention contemplates thev combination of a unique guide rail and printing head assembly.

One object of the invention is to provide a device of the type described of simple and economical construction and which produces a uniform and clear imprint.

Another object is to provide a portable imprinter that is lightweight in construction which possesses a low silhouette.

A further object is to provide a lmechanism for avoiding superfluous overprinting in a device of the type described.

Other objects, advantages and capabilities of the present invention will become apparent from the following detail description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention.

In the drawings:

FIGURE l shows a plan view, partly in section, of a preferred embodiment of the invention;

FIGURE 2 illustrates a side elevation of the apparatus shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 shows a perspective View lof `a portion of the invention;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary detail view showing a certain action, with relation to the imprinter shown in FIGURE 3, that occurs during a portion of the movement of the platen roller;

FIGURE 5 shows a section of the device, taken on the line 5-5 of FIGURE 1, looking in the direction of the arrows while an imprinting function is being performed;

FIGURE 6 shows a section of the device, taken on the line 6 6 of FIGURE 1, while a return function is being performed;

FIGURE 7 is a perspective view of one form of an anti-friction insert;

FIGURE 8 is a section view of the device, taken on the line 8 8 of FIGURE 5, while the imprinting head is being transferred into its imprinting position;

FIGURE 9 is a perspective View of the form of interference mechanism employed in FIGURES 1-8 and 10;

FIGURE l0 is a section view of the device taken on the line 10-10 of FIGURE 6;

FIGURE 11 is a perspective view of another embodiment of interference apparatus which may be employed;

FIGURE l2 is a perspective view of yet another embodiment of interference apparatus which may be employed.

In the present invention, as well as in many conventional imprinters, one may either employ a simple type platen to produce only carbon copies by means of carbon sheets or an ink-impregnated platen where a first ink copy is obtained and further copies are of the carbon type.

Referring now to the drawings, wherein like reference characters designate like or corresponding parts through 3,283,711 Patented Nov. 8, 1966 out the several views, there is shown in FIGURES l and 2, which illustrate a preferred embodiment of the instant invention, a printing machine 21 comprising a backing member 22, made of a strong, durable substance such as metal, above which is positioned a base member 23 which may be molded of metal or 'a suitable hard plastic composition. The base member 23 is so formed to have a pair of vertical sides 24 and 25, a top surface or printing bed 26 with overlapping side portions 27 and 28, integral therewith, and a bottom surface 29 having `a plane parallel to the bed plate 26 whereby the vertical sides 24 and 25 are at right angles to both the printing bed and bottom surface. The backing plate 22 is secured to the bottom of base member 23 by screws or any other suitable means.

To properly locate a printing plate 31 relative to the path of the platen 32, there is provided on the printing bed 26, a pair of card holding pockets 33 and 34 for inserting two inner corners of a printing plate therein, there being further provided a rail member 35 for guiding the outer edge of the printing plate. Between the card holding pockets 33 and 34 is located a V-shaped groove 36 for allowing the card to be easily tilted for manual removal from the printing bed 26. Aside from rail member 3S, rail members 37, 38, and 39 are further used to locate the sheet, card or form set upon which the printed impressions will be introduced after the platen has been actuated to perform a printing function. A further pair of grooves 42 and 43 are located in the path of platen 32 to be adaptable for slug inserts which may contain such information as the station or users address, assigned number for record purposes, date, et-c. The latter auxiliary printing means will, of course, depend upon the nature of the business with which the present invention is to be employed.

There is shown in FIGURES 3 and 4 (also FIGURES 1 and 2), a U-shaped clamp member 44 having a pair of side ear portions 40 formed at right angles thereto, the ear portions being intersected by a rod 45 tixedly seated within the base member 23 for allowing the clamp 44 to be pivotable thereabout. One end of the clamp 44 is characterized by an inverted V-shaped extension 46 upwardly displaced from the printing bed 26, and beneath which are positioned a pair of springs 47 and 48 seated within a rectangular cutout of base 23 and on either side of the clamp 44, the springs being sufficiently tensioned in the upward direction to normally force the clamp in a counter-clockwise direction about pivot rod 4S as viewed from FIGURE 4. As imprinter head 49 is moved in the direction disclosed by the arrow X to bear against block members 54 and 55, the platen 32 will encounter and force downwardly the inverted V-shaped protrusion 46 of clamp 44 to bear upon and compress the springs 47 and 48, thereby to pivot the clamp about rod 45 raising its extended U-shaped portion from the surface of printing bed 26, allowing the sheet, card or form set 51 to be inserted thereunder against form stop members 52 which are attached to, yet beneath, clamp 44. The clamp is therefore used to literally clamp the sheet to be imprinted to the surface of the printing bed during a subsequent imprint operation. It is noted that if a platen roller of the ink type were to be utilized, the U shaped segment of the spring clamp could be raised by employing a protruded section of the printing head to coact with the vertically extended portion of the spring clamp.

At the extreme right end of the imprinter, a handle 53, for grasping and steadying the imprinter during an imprint operation, is fastened to the base member 23. There is further provided a pair of stop members 54 and 55, respectively being fastened to one of the two sides of the base 23 and handle 53 by conventional attachment means, the block members being utilized to limit the travel of the imprinter head 49 in the X direction to the extent that the platen roller 32 will overlie the inverted V-shaped portion 46 of the clamp 44. At the far left end of the imprinter, a member 56 is secured to the base 23 by conventional means, also for limiting thel move'- ment of the imprinter head 49 but in the direction indicated by the arrow Y.

Platen roller 32, as shown in FIGURE 5, is provided with a center hole, the platen roller being slideably mounted on a freely revolvable shaft 58 extending through the center hole of the platen roller, which shaft is suspended by having its stepped end portions inserted in `a pair of anti-friction support blocks 59 and 61. The aforesaid roller unit, when assembled, is frictionally fitted into a recess 62 within the right hand side of the` imprinter head 49. Various thicknesses of shims 63 are placed under the blocks 59 and 61 to adjust for the height of the platen roller, relative to the lower surfaces defined by two pair of laterally extending top reference blocks 65, one pair of reference blocks being on each side of the imprinter head.

Each of the two pairs of top reference blocks 65 (see FIGURES and 6) is an integral part of a corresponding anti-friction insert 64, each insert further comprising a pair of integral bottom reference blocks 66 (see FIG- URES 7 and 8). The anti-friction inserts 64 are each provided with a height between the surfaces defined by top and bottom reference blocks 65 and 66, that is equivalent to the sum of the height of one of the base extensions 27 or 28, plus the height (diametrical distance) of the interference rollers 67, further inclusive of a relatively short height for running clearance, and less the height of either one of reference blocks 65 or 66, assuming reference blocks 65 and 66 are of the same height.

As disclosed in FIGURE 9, a pair of interference rollers 67, preferably manufactured from anti-friction material such as polyethylene, is rotatably mounted on each of a pair of shafts 68, which shafts are respectively attached at opposite ends to each of two trunnion bars 69, the center of each of the trunnion bars being mounted on one of two axles 71, each of which axles first protrudes through one of the elongated openings 72 in one of the inserts 64 and then through each of their respective sides of the imprinter head 49. The outer edge of each axle 71 is fixed to the pivoting end of a torque spring 73, the spring being suspended from its other end which, when the interference rollers are mounted, is attached to a side of the imprinter head 49, to normally assume a tilted position (see FIGURE 8) relative to printing bed 26, thereby supporting a trunnion bar 69, to lie within the antifriction insert 64 in a similar tilted angle and adapting each of the torque springs 73, to assume positions placing the trunnion bars 69 either below and parallel to overlapping portions 27 and 28 (see FIGURE 5), or above and parallel to overlapping portions 27 and 28 (see FIG- URES 6 and 10), depending on whether an imprinting or platen return function is to be performed as will hereinafter become apparent in explanation of the operation of the invention.

There is further disclosed in FIGURES 1, 2, and 8, a pair of slots 74 and 75, breaking the continuity of the overlapping side portions 27 and 28, the opposite sides of the slots having been cut-away at angular yet parallel planes to define each slot in the nature of a six sided prism which faces are parallelograms, one opposite pair of faces being inclined thus forming a slot having an inclined parallelepiped configuration, adapted for directing the traveling interference rollers downwardly (see FIG- URE 8) below the overlapping side portions 27 and 28, when the imprinter head is moved in the Y direction. It is observed that the plane of the cut-away angles of each of the sides of slots 74 and 75 is Virtually parallel with the unbiased angle formed by the trunnion bars 69 and rollers 67 relative to the base, therefore the slots 74 and vtravelling in the X direction.

will be readily receptive to the interference rollers 67 when travelling in the Y direction, yet the slots 74 and 75 are nonreceptive to the rollers 67 when the same are Similarly, slots 76 and 77 having an inclined parallelepiped configuration are provided at the other end of the imprinter to break the continuity of overlapping side portions 27 and 28 and are cut-away at the same angular value to also be virtually parallel with the angle formed by the trunnion bars 69 carrying rollers 67, so that the slots will be receptive to and direct upwardly the rollers 67 above the overlapping side portions 27 and 28 of printing bed 26 when the imprinter head 49 is travelling in the X direction, yet being nonreceptive when the imprinter head is travelling in the Y direction.

Further types of interference strips may be used in lieu of rollers 69 as shown in FIGURE 11 wherein solid blocks 78 of anti-friction type material such as polyethylene are employed with angular edges to be complimentary with the cut-away angles in the slots 74-77. FIGURE l2 discloses a ball bearing mechanism wherein a number of balls 81 are loosely held within a holder 82 to be revolvable therein.

In operation, the printing plate 31 will rst be positioned by inserting it into card receiving pockets 33 and 34 and guided on the outside -by rail member 35, then the imprinter head 49, with its interference rollers above overlapping side portions 27 and 28, will be moved in the X direction to overlie the V-shaped protrusion 46 of spring clamp member 44 thereby raising the clamp member 44 so that a portion of the form-set of sheet 51 may be placed thereunder for clamping the same to the printing bed 26 of the imprinter when the imprinted head 49 is slightly displaced from the V-shaped protrusion 46 whereby the appropriate portion yof the sheet to form-set 51 will overlie the printing plate 31. With the above accomplished, an imprint operation is ready and, thus, the imprinter head 49 is moved in the Y direction and as the imprinter head approaches the slots 74 and 75, the torque spring will force the rollers 67 on trunnion 69 downwardly underneath the overlapping side portions 27 and 28 in rolling engagement therewith (see FIGURE @8), thereby lowering the surface of the top pieces 65 of the anti-friction insert 64 into sliding engagement with the top surface of side portions 27 and 28. The lowering of rollers 67 beneath the printing bed 26 will lower the imprinter head 49 on which said rollers are indirectly mounted and therefore will bring the platen roller 32 into rolling contact with the sheet or set-form 51 urging the same Vagainst printing plate 31 and the slugs in grooves 42 and 43, to cause an impression or print on the sheet or form-set (see FIGURE 5).

The imprinter head 49 is moved in the Y direction or imprint direction until it abuts and is stopped by support block 56, then the imprinter head 49 is returned to its original position as shown in FIGURES 1 and 2 by moving the same in the X or return direction during which the rollers 67 mounted on the biased torque spring 73 will be directed, by slots 76 and 77, into rolling engagement with the top surface of overlapping side portions 27 and 28 (see FIGURES 5 and 10) while bottom pieces 66 of `anti-friction insert 65 slide along their bottom surface to thereby elevate the platen roller 32 away from the bed plate 26 during the return stroke. When the imprinter head 49 is moved back to its ready-for-imprint position, it is first employed to raise the spring-lamp 44 so that the sheet o1' form-set 51 and printing plate 31 may be removed from the printing bed 26.

It will be readily observed that due to the elevation of the platen roller during the return stroke, normal superfluous overprinting during said stroke is avoided.

It should be understood, of course, that the foregoing disclosure relates to only preferred embodiments of the invention and that numerous modifications or alterations may be made therein without departing' from the spirit and the scope of the invention, it is desired, therefore,

that only such limitations be placed on the invention as are imposed by the prior art and as set forth in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

`1. Apparatus for printing documents wherein an impression is to be made upon a document disposed over printing means having type characters thereon comprising a base member the top of which forms a plane dening a printing bed and adapted to support printing means to enable an imprint to be made therefrom, a pair of parallel tracks one at each side ofr" said base member and forming top and bottom surfaceswhich dene a pair of spaced planes each being parallel to the plane of the printing bed, said tracks being interrupted near each end of the printing bed by a pair yot slots each having a similar inclined parallelepiped configuration, a printing head to overlie said printing bed, a platen'rotatably mounted in the printing head, side ear portions of said printing head extending downwardly, adjacent and beneath a level of the bottom surface of the tracks at each side thereof, anti-friction C shaped guide means in each of said downwardly protruding side ear portions and receiving the adjacent track therein, an interference member resiliently mounted on the printing head at each of the side ear portions to be within said C shaped guide rneans and bear against one of the track surfaces, the interference member when not biased assuming a position disposed at an incline substantially parallel to the inclined sides of the slots, said C shaped guide means and interference members to slidably engage opposite yet alternate ones of the two planer surfaces formed by the tracks depending upon the direction of travel of the printing head for vertically shifting the platen 6 into and'out of printing position relative to the printing bed.

2. In apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said interference member comprises at least a pair of ball bearings.

3. In apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said interference member comprises at least a pair of rollers.

4. In apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said interference member is a `solid block of material having its edges cutaway to be complementary with the angles formed by the slots.

5. Apparatus according to claim 1 including recesses formed in the direction of the tracks intermediate the ends of the C shaped channel guide means allowing the interference members to be resiliently positioned in an -unbiased condition at a steeper incline when the incline of the slots is steep.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS `640,745 l/ 1900 Claridge 101-269 1,888,463 11/1932 Lee 101-269 2,942,544 6/1960 Williams lOl-381 X 2,985,102 5/1961 Vanderoook 101--252 X 3,195,140 7/1965 Schuh et al. 101-269 X FOREIGN PATENTS 399,371 10/1933 Great Britain.

ROBERT E. PULFREY, Primary Examiner.

H. P. EWELL, Assistant Examiner. 

1. APPARATUS FOR PRINTING DOCUMENTS WHEREIN AN IMPRESSION IS TO BE MADE UPON A DOCUMENT DISPOSED OVER PRINTING MEANS HAVING TYPE CHARACTERS THEREON COMPRISING A BASE MEMBER THE TOP OF WHICH FORMS A PLANE DEFINING A PRINTING BED AND ADAPTED TO SUPPORT PRINTING MEANS TO ENABLE AN IMPRINT TO BE MADE THEREFROM, A PAIR OF PARALLEL TRACKS ONE AT EACH SIDE OF SAID BASE MEMBER AND FORMING TOP AND BOTTOM SURFACES WHICH DEFINE A PAIR OF SPACED PLANES EACH BEING PARALLEL TO THE PLANE OF THE PRINTING BED, SAID TRACKS BEING INTERRUPTED NEAR EACH END OF THE PRINTING BED BY A PAIR OF SLOTS EACH HAVING A SIMILAR INCLINED PARALLELEPIPED CONFIGURATION, A PRINTING HEAD TO OVERLIE SAID PRINTING BED, A PLATEN ROTATABLY MOUNTED IN THE PRINTING HEAD, SIDE EAR PORTIONS OF SAID PRINTING HEAD EXTENDING DOWNWARDLY, ADJACENT AND BENEATH A LEVEL OF THE BOTTOM SURFACE OF THE TRACKS AT EACH SIDE THEREOF, ANTI-FRICTION C SHAPED GUIDE MEANS IN EACH OF SAID DOWNWARDLY PROTRUDING SIDE EAR PORTIONS AND RECEIVING THE ADJACENT TRACK THEREIN, AN INTERFERENCE MEMBER RESILIENTLY MOUNTED ON THE PRINTING HEAD AT EACH OF THE SIDE EAR PORTIONS TO BE WITHIN SAID C SHAPED GUIDE MEANS AND BEAR AGAINST NOT OF THE TRACK SURFACES, THE INTERFERENCE MEMBER WHEN NOT BIASED ASSUMING A POSITION DISPOSED AT AN INCLINE SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL TO THE INCLINED SIDES OF THE SLOTS, SAID C SHAPED GUIDE MEANS AND INTERFERENCE MEMBERS TO SLIDABLY ENGAGE OPPOSITE YET ALTERNATE ONES OF THE TWO PLANER SURFACES FORMED BY THE TRACKS DEPENDING UPON THE DIRECTION OF TRAVEL OF THE PRINTING HEAD FOR VERTICALLY SHIFTING THE PLATEN INTO AND OUT OF PRINTING POSITION RELATIVE TO THE PRINTING BED. 